Lamar Jackson injury update: Ravens make official decision on QB vs. Bears

Lamar Jackson returned to practice earlier this week, but he won’t be playing in Week 9 against the Chicago Bears. The Baltimore Ravens have ruled him out for Sunday’s game.

It’s a tough break, as the franchise knows that their season is in a very precarious spot. Jackson will now miss three games in a row with his hamstring injury.

Earlier this week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tried to clarify Jackson’s status on Get Up: “The encouraging part was he was back at practice. But, he came out 20 minutes late, and the Ravens still don’t know if he’s going to be healthy enough from that hamstring injury to be able to play Sunday against the Chicago Bears,” Schefter said.

“They should have a better idea (Friday). Another full practice, if he gets out there and works and his hamstring holds up. Again, encouraging he’s back, but they’re not ready to commit to him starting Sunday just yet.”

Evidently, Jackson wasn’t ready for game action against the Bears just yet. He initially suffered his hamstring injury in the loss to Kansas City on September 28th.

That loss saw the Ravens fall to 1-3 on the season, though all three losses were to presumed Super Bowl contenders, and aside from the game Jackson left with an injury, they were one-score losses. The problem is that the Ravens have added two more losses since then before going into a bye week last week.

In the two games without Jackson, Baltimore has scored a total of 13 points. That’s been with a mix of Cooper Rush and Tyler Huntley at quarterback. It’s also led to another two losses, dropping Baltimore to just 1-5 on the season. That’s last place in the AFC North and three games out of first place. So, while the season isn’t over, it does quickly need to do a 180-degree turn.

For his part, when he’s played, Jackson has completed 71.6% of his passes for 869 yards and 10 touchdowns to one interception. That’s on 9.1 yards per attempt, which, if it were a season total, would be a career high for Jackson. He also has 166 rushing yards and another touchdown on the ground. That’s on 7.9 yards per attempt, which again, would be a career high to end the season with.

This week, the Baltimore Ravens are back home, hosting the Chicago Bears. It’s been a bounce-back season for Chicago, hoping to get to 5-2 with a win in Baltimore. We’ll see if the Ravens can compete without their star quarterback.

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.